


Laughter Lines

by otppurefuckingmagic



Series: Malec Tumblr Prompts [9]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Contemplative Alec, Eloquent Magnus, Future Fic, M/M, Shadowhunters Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 11:56:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6703651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/otppurefuckingmagic/pseuds/otppurefuckingmagic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From this Malec Network prompt:</p><p>"Firsts"</p><p>It's August 8, 2036...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Laughter Lines

**Author's Note:**

> It’s the last day of April but I did it! Taking a quick (very quick!) break from In the Sin Bin to post my contribution to The Malec Network April Challenge of _Firsts_.
> 
> (credit to @catniphpsalvatore for sending me Petrarch’s Sonnet 90 and interpreting it for me!! ♡ xx)

Alec traced his finger over the corner of Magnus’ lips. Merely a soft brush of skin, trying not to wake him, but _needing_ to touch. 

Magnus had come home late, exhausted, grumbling about a warlock who had cast a spell that had threatened to drain the East River completely. Heading straight for the shower because he smelled like _the foulness of unwashed masses_. He’d been pissed yet half asleep when Alec dragged him under the covers and into his arms. 

Magnus hadn’t moved since then and Alec had been incapable of letting go, even when he woke with the sun. It didn’t matter that last night’s sleep had been interrupted. Alec couldn’t have slept in today. 

It was August 8, 2036. 

He couldn’t believe he’d made it to this day with Magnus still at his side, let alone with Magnus wrapped around him, sleeping soundly, as if the all-powerful warlock was safer in Alec’s arms. 

Magnus wasn’t the High Warlock in this moment, he was _Alec’s_ Magnus. 

His face was bare—makeup and glitter free—hair disheveled from falling asleep while it was wet. Golden skin on royal blue sheets that were draped around his waist. Necklaces and rings piled in a heap on the nightstand, jewelry discarded there when he’d tumbled into bed—all except for the ornate band Magnus always wore on his left hand. 

But it was the lines at the edges of Magnus’ mouth—ones that had grown deeper over the years despite Magnus’ immortality—that Alec was most fixated on.   

 _Laughter lines, not wrinkles_ , Magnus insisted on calling them. 

Alec had to agree. They had so much to smile and laugh about. 

Unable to resist, he leaned forward and gently touched his lips against Magnus’. Magnus stirred, blindly reached out and drew Alec closer, lips grazing Alec’s chest. 

“I didn’t mean to wake you up,” Alec whispered. 

“It doesn’t matter how many mornings you say that,” Magnus mumbled in a sleep-worn voice. “I’ll never believe it.” 

Alec smiled. Later he would write this all down, but he wanted to breathe in every detail about this morning before he put pen to paper. 

He kissed Magnus’ head. “Good morning.” 

“Is it?“ 

“Is it ‘good’? Or is it ‘morning’?” 

Magnus rolled onto his back and blinked his eyes open, unglamoured gold-green finding Alec immediately. “I see the sun so it must be morning. And I see you so it must be good.” 

Alec smirked. Too charming. His husband was way too charming. 

Magnus yawned. “Do tell, Alexander. Why am I getting the Sleeping Beauty treatment today? Usually it’s for physical extracurriculars, but”—Magnus glanced down, one eyebrow arched—“that doesn’t appear to be the case.” 

Alec took a deep breath. He’d never be as eloquent as Magnus, but he didn’t want to leave anything unsaid today. “I love you in the morning. I like the way you reach for me when you begin to wake up. I like seeing your eyes when they open. The way you look at _me_ when you first wake up—before anything else. Even after all these years. It’s still so much like it was in the beginning….” 

Alec turned on his side and Magnus mirrored him, listening. As if he knew Alec just needed him to be quiet. After all this time, he was sure Magnus did know.

“Sometimes it feels like I haven’t aged at all,” Alec continued. “I can go days without really looking at myself in the mirror, and then I see my hands, and I see time passing there.” Magnus reached out and twined Alec’s hands with his. Alec gripped him tightly. “I feel my age in muscle twinges and aching bones and I look at you and it’s like not even a day has passed since we met.” 

Magnus frowned. “Alexander….” 

“No. That’s a good thing,” he insisted. “I look at you and I see you exactly how you were twenty-one years ago and I _feel_ like I did twenty-one years ago. Nervous about what I was jumping into. Excited about what would happen next. And so much good has happened in those twenty-one years that it’s like I have the best of both worlds. I see you and you’re the same, but you’re _not_. You’re unchanging yet deeply different, and you anchor me to our present and our past. You keep me grounded when I worry about the future…. You are the link between who I was then and who I am now. You look young and I _feel_ young because of how you still look at me. And I can’t worry about the future, because how much you love me is just as unchanging as you are, yet deeper than it was twenty-one years ago….” Alec furrowed his brow. “I don’t know if I’m saying this right.” 

“I’m not unchanging,” Magnus replied. “These laughter lines are only growing deeper, my rakish nephilim.” 

“I love them and I love you.” 

Alec set his palm against Magnus’ jaw, running his thumb over those beautiful lines, and Magnus circled his hand around Alec’s wrist. 

“You’re even more introspective than usual this morning, Alexander.” 

“It’s August 8, 2036.” 

That made Magnus grip his hand tighter. “I’ve forgotten something important, haven’t I?” 

“No. It’s a date _I’ve_ been waiting for. One you wouldn't….” He didn’t know how to explain this the right way to Magnus. “It’s more _my_ milestone than yours.” 

Magnus chuckled softly. “I haven’t seen you blush like this in a very long time.” 

“This…. This is the first morning I’ve woken up knowing you longer than I haven’t known you.” 

“This exact morning?” 

Alec nodded. 

“Is this when I should pretend to be surprised that you’ve kept track of this date?" 

Alec scoffed and Magnus planted a soft, smiling kiss on his lips. 

“When did you start thinking about today—August 8, 2036?”

“The day you woke Jocelyn up in the Institute,” Alec answered. "I was thinking a lot about my mortality then.” 

“I remember.” 

“I did the math that night and figured out how long I would have to live to know you longer than I hadn’t. It was a goal. A bookmark in my life that would mean even though my years would always be less than yours that there was significance to the years I did have with you.” 

“May I see your list?” Magnus asked quietly.

“What?” 

“Your list. Even after twenty-one years, you fail to remember that I know you better than you know yourself. It’s highly likely you’ve kept a list of other dates, not just this one.” 

Alec smiled. He flipped over and grabbed a worn notebook from the end table. “I’m actually surprised you haven’t already seen this list.” 

“Your privacy is yours. I never read your writings unless you offer them to me. You don’t have to tell me, but…” Magnus smirked. “I’d like to hear what notable dates I’ve missed.” 

Alec flipped his notebook open, going to the first page of what had become more documented dates than he’d ever planned on collecting. “That I’ve done demon summonings more with you than without you. That I’ve had a bow in my hands with you at my back for longer than not. That I’ve liked the name Alexander longer than I hated it. That I’ve been your husband longer than I was your boyfriend. That we’ve been fathers longer than it was just the two of us.” Alec laughed as he read down his list and picked out one that was sure to bring a smile to Magnus’ face. “My life pre-Ru Paul’s Drag Race and post—I can’t believe that show is still on for me even to hit that date.” 

Magnus’ breath coasted over Alec’s chest as he laughed. “It’s a classic.” 

“Then there’s the ones that I had to guess the date on,” Alec added. “That I’ve been eating ice cream longer with you than without. That the average age of my clothing has plummeted since moving in with you.” 

“And what dates do I have to look forward to?” 

Alec turned another page. “The moment when I’ve been kissing you longer than I haven’t.” 

Magnus hummed. “We may need to reenact that first kiss—for nostalgic purposes, of course. Not that it’s one of the most perfect moments in my long life or anything. What else?” 

Alec cleared his throat. “The moment we’ve been fucking longer than we haven’t.” 

“I think I know how to best to commemorate that date when it arrives.” Magnus ran a finger down Alec’s chest, sending shivers up his spine. 

He inhaled and focused on Magnus. His husband. The man who’d been everything to him for almost twenty-one years now. “The moment when I’ve been in love with you for longer than I haven’t.” 

Magnus picked the notebook out of Alec’s hands, set it aside, and pressed his palm to Alec’s chest, rolling him onto his back and straddling him. Magnus’ cat eyes narrowed, and he bit at his lip as he peered down at Alec. “I want to recognize all of these days with you from now on. No matter how insignificant you think they are.” 

“Okay.”

“‘ _Un spirto celeste, un vivo sole_ _fu quel ch’ i’ vidi; e se non fosse or tale,_ _piaga per allentar d'arco non sana_ ,’” Magnus whispered as he leaned down and kissed Alec on each cheek.

Alec smiled. “Translate, please.” 

“It’s the end of a sonnet from an Italian poet. Very loosely translated it means—no matter how much time passes or how much you change, you are an angel who has wounded me in every beautiful way. I’ll never be healed from the arrow you’ve embedded in my heart, my archer. I will proudly carry every moment I’ve spent with you for as long as I live.” 

Alec swallowed. Tried to understand how it was possible he’d been granted so many years with this man. Thankful they still had so many years left. “Some day I’ll find the right combination of words so I can say something that affects you the way I’m affected right now.” 

“My dearest Alexander. You already have. Why do you think I feel the need to recite flowery poetry? Now, how do we mark the beginning of this new era?” 

“I would say we already have, but…” Alec grinned. “But we both know the answer is sex.” 

Magnus laughed, a sound that was tethered to Alec’s soul. “You, Alexander, may be good for my heart but you are hell on my laughter lines.”

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on tumblr @otppurefuckingmagic ♡ xx


End file.
